IBD – Investment Banking Division

What is the Investment Banking Division (IBD)?

IBD is an acronym for the Investment Banking Division within the overall investment bank. IBD has responsibility for working with corporations, institutions, and governments to carry out capital raising (underwriting in equity, debt and hybrid markets) as well as execute mergers and acquisitions and various types of advisory mandates.

Other divisions of an investment bank

Within an investment bank, there is a clear line between the Investment Banking Division (IBD) and other areas of the bank such as:

All of the above jobs are considered “front office” (think: client facing) careers. In addition to front office careers at an

In addition to front office careers at an investment bank, there are also careers in the “middle office” such as operations, technology, and human resources. Finally, there are also “back office” careers such as accounting, payroll, tech support etc.

Not everyone who works at an investment bank is an investment banker

If someone says they “work in investment banking” they should be referring to the IBD within an investment bank, although people will often claim to work in investment banking when they don’t have work in that division.

For this reason, true investment bankers are clear about the fact that they work in IBD.

Additional resources

This has been a guide to how investment banks are structured and hopefully sheds some light on exactly what it means to be in IBD. To keep learning and developing your career, we highly recommend these additional resources: